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Few Kiwi dads taking paid parental leave for fatherhood

by McBlog2 • 27 March 2018 • Comments Off on Few Kiwi dads taking paid parental leave for fatherhood

NZ Herald 27 March 2018Family First Comment: “Family First have been calling on the Government for years to support two weeks of paid “father leave”. This would ideally rise to four weeks, director Bob McCoskrie explained. “The support is to help fathers bond with their child, take on more care, and help mothers after a birth. The research shows it’s important fathers can be actively involved. Dads are not an optional extra,” McCoskrie told the Herald. “Even from birth children who have involved fathers are more likely to be emotionally secure, confident in their surroundings and have better social connections with peers. Father leave is an important investment.””Read our 2015 Submission – https://www.familyfirst.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Parental-Leave-2015.pdf

New figures show the number of men taking paid parental leave has hardly changed in a decade.

In 2008, 220 dads took paid parental leave (PPL), totalling $661,631. Last year that number was 324, and the cost almost tripled to $1,769,550.

When the number is compared with population growth it has increased only by a fraction. And the monetary value has risen most likely due to leave rising from 14 weeks to 18 weeks over that time.

The number of women taking PPL increased from 25,676 in 2008 to 30,252 last year ($133,299,009 to $273,972,500).

Family First have been calling on the Government for years to support two weeks of paid “father leave”. This would ideally rise to four weeks, director Bob McCoskrie explained.

The support is to help fathers bond with their child, take on more care, and help mothers after a birth.

“The research shows it’s important fathers can be actively involved. Dads are not an optional extra,” McCoskrie told the Herald.

“Even from birth children who have involved fathers are more likely to be emotionally secure, confident in their surroundings and have better social connections with peers.

Parental leave helped prepare widowed father for parenting soloNZ Herald 27 March 2018
Meanwhile, other countries and organisations are going above and beyond to include fathers in their children’s lives.

Canada introduced five weeks of paid leave for dads, or the non-primary caregiver, in their 2017 Budget. Mothers are eligible for 15 weeks of maternity leave followed by 35 weeks of parental leave which can be shared with the other partner.

New Zealand company Salesforce offers 12 weeks of paid paternity leave for dads or the non-primary caregiver. It also offers primary caregivers 26 weeks of paid leave and if a family adopt they can apply for a reimbursement of up to $10,000 per child for expenses related to adopting.